Baldwin, cities seek funding for road extensions

While huge infrastructure projects and fights over the tolls to build them are making big news in South Alabama, some smaller projects that could have big impacts in South Baldwin County are also on the drawing board.

Baldwin County and Foley are looking to partner on a project to extend County Road 20 South to County Road 65 across what is mostly woods and farmland now. Those two will also work with Gulf Shores on a possible extension of County Road 10 from State Route 59 over to the Foley Beach Express. That project would also include extending James Road southward from where it now ends at Brinks Willis Road to connect with the new County Road 10.

The new connections would give residents in the crowded south end of the county more north-south options. The three entities are now making plans to try and line up funding to get the projects moving.

“They’re somewhat unusual,” Foley City Administrator Mike Thompson said. “County Road 10 is a line that was set by a judge a number of years ago as a demarcation line of how far south Foley can grow and how far north Gulf Shores can grow from 59 over to the east to Wolf Bay. The County Road 10 project, if it were to happen, is kind of in no man’s land because either city would never be able to annex both sides of the road and therefore take control of the road. If it happens, it’ll be a county road.”

Gulf Shores City Administrator Steve Griffin says the James Road extension would be vital to the growth explosion along County Road 8, which the city has renamed Coastal Gateway Boulevard. He would like to see it go even farther south.

“If constructed, the James Road extension coupled with the Coastal Gateway Boulevard connector road to County Road 6 East would shift the local traffic away from the arterial roads and help relieve traffic congestion,” Griffin said. “In order to address both current and future traffic demands, the city will continue to work with other agencies such as Foley, ALDOT [Alabama Department of Transportation] and Baldwin County to construct additional roadway networks to provide relief to traffic congestion and protect the quality of life for our residents and visitors.”

While the roadways aren’t in the budget just yet, County Highway Director Joey Nunnally said the county is in favor of building them if the money can be found.

“The county has not done anything to help fund those projects at all,” Nunnally said. “They are on kind of our visionary list I guess you would call it, but we don’t have any funding set up for those projects nor do we have these projects slated to be funded on this next fiscal year. Now we were showing a little interest in the city of Foley pushing these through with a Build Grant scenario. Obviously, if we have some money, that’s 20 cents on the dollar or 10 cents on the dollar, we’d always be interested in something like that.”